Recovery - Week 6

I entered this week expecting it to be a lot like Week 5--mostly uneventful but still supported by amazing friends. Also, I was going to have dinner with my Dad in the midweek and an adventure in DC on Thursday. By midweek, I already knew from my orthopedic surgeon that I could be on crutches. Yes. You read correctly: CRUTCHES. Standing up felt extremely alien, as if I had to tell something outside of myself to move and support my weight.

My right foot (yes, the one with the compound fracture), had more bone damage than ligament damage (the left ankle took most of the "soft tissue" beating). As my surgeon has told me quite a few times, bone heals more predictably than ligaments. Thus, after today's X-ray, he grabbed a pair of crutches and told me to stand. Physical therapy will also change from stretching while lying down to practicing tricks (er...I mean, mundane and quotidian activities) on the crutches!

So, when my Dad came into town to take me out to dinner, I still wasn't exactly up for crutching around any areas larger than my apartment. As a matter of fact, standing was about all I could do for the first few days. So, going out to eat still happened in the wheelchair. But, it was the principle of the thing: I was standing weeks before I had initially expected to.

That Thursday, I decided to foray into the city to prove my own independence. In my attempts to cram my schedule that day, I did not in fact arrive where I needed to be on time. I mostly blame Capitol Hill. Rather than "waste time" switching metro lines, I thought that I could very easily get from Union Station up and over Capitol Hill in the blink of an eye. Well, my eye-blinks are longer than most, because it took about 45 minutes longer than expected. I also think many people naturally pity you when you're huffing and puffing up a hill in a wheelchair, seemingly bereft of any friends who could help you. But, I kept on chugging, and got a great workout. Since I was ridiculously late for the ceremony I had attempted to attend, I hung out in the botanical gardens to cool off and watch the flowers grow (Ok, so the families were more intriguing than the flowers to watch, especially since it's tourist season).

Meeting up with my friends, we wheeled about Capitol Hill. Ok, they walked and I wheeled. We all came back to my apartment and played games as if it were a Friday night. It was a Thursday night, however, and no one was ready for work the next day. Thankfully, when recovering from broken ankles and being a teacher, I could sleep in the next day.

That weekend, I got to enjoy a museum with friends (museums are MUCH more fun in wheelchairs), and saw Cars 2, which I thought was good. Onward and upward as I stand more every day and even begin hobbling about.